Oftel yesterday moved to head off the growing sense of crisis surrounding the break-up of BT's monopoly of the local telephone network.
At an emergency meeting with BT and a number of rival operators, the Oftel director general, David Edmonds, won agreement to bring forward the existing timetable for the so called "unbundling of the local loop".
The meeting was called after the first 25 of BT's local exchanges opened for competition attracted only a derisory response from rivals hoping to compete with the erstwhile monopoly. Competition in the local network sector is seen as a vital ingredient for the deployment of high speed internet access in Britain.
Orders for space were placed in only 14 of the 25 BT exchanges, with an average of only one or two operators per site instead of the anticipated seven or eight.
At yesterday's meeting it was agreed that the original timetable for unbundling would be scrapped and that access to BT's most popular exchanges in wealthy urban areas would be accelerated.
Oftel also said it had started an investigation into the prices charged by BT for storing its rivals' equipment in its exchanges.
Anne Lambert, Oftel's director of operations, described the meeting as "constructive". She said: "All who attended were keen to solve the problems that have arisen so that the unbundling process can proceed according to the agreed timetable."
The 25 exchanges that had a deadline for orders of last Friday were part of an original 360 on offer to rivals in the first wave of unbundling. Another 360 in more densely populated areas were to have been in a second wave. Orders for the second tranche can be placed next month.
A BT spokesman accused Oftel of trying to appear the "ringmaster" by calling yesterday's meeting.
"We offered to bring forward the timetable last month and it was turned down, so there was no problem in agreeing to this. BT has hit every deadline and every milestone throughout this process."
The proces of loosening BT's grip over the "last mile" from exchanges to the home or businesses has been plagued throughout by controversy.
Oftel had hoped the telecoms industry would agree terms for co-location in BT exchanges but was forced to intervene in the autumn.
The government had promised "widespread availability" of competition by July this year.
BT's competitors have blamed the low level of demand on the wide dispersion of the chosen exchanges around the country, making it difficult to make business plans. There is also uncertainty about the cost of taking space in BT's exchanges.
Competitors will be able to install DSL equipment, which upgrades the old copper analogue network for high bandwidth use, including fast internet access.
Firms that have expressed an interest in taking space include Energis, Thus and Kingston Communications.
